Unofficial fansite for The Cat Empire
Contributed by Funky Monk in the forums - thanks!
ENCORE:
(by Funky Monk, edited by Casey, original is here)
First of all, I'm madly in love with Julie O'Hara. She's a sexy jazz vixen and for the whole Skaddabox show I was drawn into her tractorbeam. The show started with a mad trombone solo from Ben Gillespie, with nose trumpet from Julie. I'm still a little confused because I heard bass, yet saw no bass player for their whole show, hmm, a puzzler. I still loved it. Harry came on for a trumpet jam and everybody, naturally cheered. Ben Gillespie's singing and raps have a Sublime-esque Brad Nowell quality to them and being a Sublime fan, I loved. it. A song or two after Harry and a scat call and answer from Julie, Ollie came on and gave us a mere morsel of what was to come.
The agonisingly long wait between the two acts, filled with discussion with my friends about our collective adoration for Julie finally ended in an eruption of "The Sun", with Trumpet solos aplenty. "Days Like These" was all it's ever been, eccelente (Italian)! The Night Time Rhyme was jazz style like the Bennett's lane shows earlier this year. The hand waving was a bit late on in "Pocket" and I felt oh so special being one of probably four people knowing all the words.
"The Lullaby" was dead sexy for both the men and the women in the audience with Felix and Julie having a big love-in onstage, it was great. Of all the songs of this amazing band, "The Crowd" would have to be one of my least favourite, I really don't know why, I just don't seem to connect with it, but it still went off.
There was a new song that sounded suspiciously like it belonged in "Grease," and then "The Rhythm" started out like it always does. Felix said out of nowhere "Does anybody know Stevie Wonder" to which I replied "Yes" realising he couldn't hear me and Ollie started playing a teaser of "Isn't She Lovely". Carlo came out from the Horn pit and took centre stage singing, amazing, even though he didn't know the words or it was some inter-empire joke that I wasn't in on.
This was closely followed by my personal favourite Empire song: "The Wine Song" and it was the first time I'd ever heard it live and I was swaying along with the best of them. "Two Shoes" extended into a massive jam with a guest sax solo from the same local sax player who played at the blues whose name I couldn't pick up on again, but it grooved heavily. Okay, the test of a true TCE fan then followed: "Hello" or "ThE hElLo HeLlO sOnG" as so many teenyboppers so eloquently put it, did go well, but most of us here are kind of tired of it. "The Car Song" as it's been called on the forum, featured our favourite "sneaky little bastard" (Ryan) on vocals and his voice didn't scrub up too badly either, he also bought a distortion pedal for this tour so most of his solos sounded like Robert Sledge from Ben Folds Five, it was great.
"The Chariot" live, hmm, difficult, it just seems to be a little bit the same every time I've heard it, the energy and climax of the band is still there, but I don't know, there's something a bit strange about it. That and it sounds like Madness which is a plus. At this point, they left the stage ohh, so the crowd stomped their feet and nearly saw the end of the venue until the band returned in submission.
"145" saw an unexpected segue into "My Sherona", it was rockin' but it was the first time I'd wished they had a guitarist, NOT!!! Ollie's more than a substitute for a solo guitar. "The Lost Song" cemented my infatuation with Julie O'Hara and I wished to God that I'd mystically turn into Harry (And that's not the first time I've done that, he so talented). I felt so lucky because when Felix played the little box thing, ("Chiyoti"?, that's what I heard) and Harry was a'blowin', Ryan started teasing the bassline at the start of "East" and I knew they generally don't play East live. They quickly turned it into "How to Explain", no "Crazy in Love" though, much to the disappointment of one of my friends, it metamorphasised into an intense funked out jam and the entire place was changed for the better because of it and left on an ecstatic high.
The night saw vocal appearances from the whole band, Ollie joined in a lot for 3 bar Jamaican harmonies and even Jumps shouted into the mic once or twice. An amazing night and as I write this at ten to three in the morning afterwards, I feel a quiet sense of ecstacy. Thanks for reading.
This review from Miasmique in the forums.
The A & I hall was a beautiful country hall in a lovely town, and being an all ages gig, attracted a diverse range of people, from young kids to old hippies. Everyone was there just to have a good time and enjoy the music so there was actually room to dance! I'd say there was actually a lack of 'teeny boppers' because although there were teenagers there, they were cool, not shoving and elbowing anyone in order to get closer. That element was greatfully left behind in Brisbane. Seriosly, I was counting my bruises after the Arena gig. 10 bruises!
The band still felt the need to hide between a flimsy partition and security guards afterwards although Harry did come out and didn't get mobbed or anything.. so to the rest of the band, it IS safe to come out and mingle with the good people you meet.
As for Miss Julie O'Hara, she was simply delightful! I just had to buy the CD. To my surprise, she was not hiding. She was an extremely friendly nice lady, and even invited me to hang out with her in Melbourne. How nice is that! So that was a highlight. And Felix liked our dancing. And Harry like our phat pants. OK, enough bragging.
So yes, it was a fantastically fun night. They should play at venues like that more often! Oh yeah, I must also say that Ryan is such a rockstar.. he should come to the front of the stage more often.
Posted by Shakalak at October 10, 2004 08:51 PM | TrackBack